


Hello

by LtTanyaBoone



Series: Connor!verse [9]
Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2013-08-29
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:57:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtTanyaBoone/pseuds/LtTanyaBoone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p> Connor finally gets to meet his sister.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hello

**Disclaimers:** NCIS, the rights to the show and its characters do not belong to me. No money was made by this.  
 **Spoilers:** everything, AU  
 **Pairing:** Tim McGee/Ziva David romance (est. relationship)

* * *

"She's tiny." Connor said, peeking over his mother's shoulder at his younger sister. Tim picked him up and sat down next to Ziva who was holding Ella, shielding her head from Connor's feet until the boy was settled. The baby was staring at her mother with big brown eyes, kicking her legs occaisonally.

"Yes, she is." Ziva softly said, smiling at her daughter before looking at Connor. "That's why you have to be very careful with her, Connor. You can't hit her or pinch her. She's a baby and it will hurt her very much, do you understand?" she asked him. Connor bit his lip and leaned forward, nodding. Tim let him lean over Ella and look at her, careful to support the boy. The girl's eyes widened slightly when Connor's face invaded her field of vision and she kicked her legs and threw around her arms. Ziva laughed at the frown on Connor's face as he watched the antics of his sister. They had finally been able to take Ella home yesterday, but Connor had to spend the day at his uncle Tony's house, so they could get Ella settled in quiet. Right now was the first time the siblings saw each other, since in the three months since Ella's birth, Connor had not been allowed at the hospital. They had taken pictures and videos and shown them to him, but this was the real deal, and they were both slightly worried about how Connor was going to react when he figured out he would have to share his parents' attention with that tiny bundle from now on.

Connor raised his hand and Tim made a move to catch it, but Ziva caught his eye and shook her head, so he merely followed Connor's arm as the boy extended it and clumsily touched Ella's cheek. The baby turned her head into the touch, blowing spit bubbles. Her brother withdrew his hand quickly.

"Ew!" he exclaimed, and Tim grabbed a tissue to dry his hand while Ziva repositioned Ella in her arms so she was not lying down any more but slightly raised, facing her brother. Connor reached out again and this time, tucked at one of Ella's socks, causing Ziva to grab his hand this time.

"No, Connor. That's Ella's." she told him sternly and the boy looked slightly upset.

"I just wanted to see if her toes are small like her fingers." he said, looking down in shame. Ziva swallowed thickly, reaching out to ruffle his hair.

"You can see tonight when we bathe her, okay?" she offered, and Connor's face lit up. He started touching his sister again and ran his finger down her nose carefully, surprising both Ziva and Tim who shared a proud look. Ella scrunched up her face and then sneezed, surprising herself and starting to cry. Ziva lifted her to her shoulder and rubbed her back gently as Connor sat back, his bottom lip trembling.

"I didn't mean to make her cry." he sniffled, and Tim quickly hugged the boy.

"It wasn't your fault. See, she's small and she doesn't know things you do. She got scared by her own sneeze, it wasn't your fault, Connor." he reassured him, frowning slightly when Ella did not calm down. "She f-i-n-e?" he asked his wife, careful not to let Connor know he was, despite him telling the boy it was okay, still getting worried. Ziva just smiled at them.

"Yeah, she's fine, but probably hungry." she said, trying to shush the baby with a pacifier. Which Ella promptly spat out again, giving an unhappy and frustrated wail because it hadn't been what she wanted. "Can you get a bottle for her? I rather not attempt to make her nurse when she's this upset." Ziva asked him, and Tim nodded, taking Connor with him. Both men returned shortly after Ziva had gotten situated and Tim handed the bottle over to her.

"I tested it!" Connor exclaimed proudly and Ziva gave him a smile before looking at Tim, who nodded.

"It's got the right temperature." he assured her and she gently rubbed the rubber against Ella's cheek. Immediately, the baby began rooting for the source and latched on quickly, suckling away hurriedly. Connor opened his mouth, but Tim quickly covered it.

"We need to be quiet when Ella eats. Only whispering." he whispered to the boy and Connor nodded excitedly. With a doubtful look, Tim let go of his mouth, but the boy remained quiet, watching his sister with fascination. Once Ella seemed to have gotten over the worst of her hunger and the speed of her sucking decreased, Ziva looked up at her son.

"Do you want to help?" she asked him, and Connor nodded eagerly. Tim stared at his wife in confusion, but she gave him a shrug. Sam had told them that it would help getting him used to his sister if they got Connor involved and gave him the feeling of doing something important and doing it well. Ziva remembered how much it had stung that her mother hadn't trusted her to be around Tali when the girl had been a baby, and she wanted to avoid making Connor feel the same way. Tim and her had discussed it at length since Ella had been born, how involved they wanted to have Connor be, where to draw the line, and this seemed like a good place to start to her.

"Okay, sit down, legs out." she instructed him. Tim caught on and got a cushion which he placed on Connor's legs before taking the bottle from Ziva after she had dislodged it from Ella's mouth. The baby's head turned an angry shade of red and she scrunched up her face, ready to start crying again. Ziva carefully shifted her onto the cushion, making sure she was supporting her safely. Connor gently stroked Ella's wisp of dark hair and Tim handed Ziva the bottle who held it out for Connor. The boy took it, and Ziva could see what an effort he made to keep his legs still. She guided his hand to get Ella to start eating again, and once she did, she shared a grin with her son.

"Daddy!" he exclaimed, looking at his father, who winced at the volume and put his finger to his lips as an reminder. "I'm feeding Ella." Connor mock-whispered.

"I can see it. Great job, buddy." he complimented Connor. When Ziva let go of Connor's hand and instructed him to hold the bottle, he grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle kiss, squeezing it to share his joy and pride. Connor hadn't understood the pregnancy-thing, he had been confused that there was a baby in his mother's belly that was getting rounder. Tim actually thought they had scared him when Ella had been kicking and he had placed Connor's hand on Ziva's belly, but either the boy had forgotten about that, or it hadn't been as bad as they had feared. Still, Ella's birth had been the stuff their nightmares had been made of, and the weeks following it hadn't been a walk in the park, either. Ziva had spent most of her time at the hospital, only going home to shower and change after she had been released. Four weeks in, she had nearly broken down when another baby at the NICU had been in distress and they had to kick her out. She had been refused contact with her daughter for three hours and heard her cry, it had nearly driven her insane. It didn't help that the other baby didn't make it through, that only increased their worry for Ella.

In the fifth week, Gibbs, who had mostly been the one to watch Connor when Tim was also at the hospital, had set his foot down and refused to take the boy on his own any longer. He had made it a condition that Ziva was with Connor for at least two hours, and it had been only then that Ziva had seemed to realize she already had a child, a healthy son that she had been ignoring in her fear and worry for her second baby. Connor had been confused and lost, getting passed from one adult to the other, with both his parents suddenly having little patience for him. It had taken a real effort for Ziva to be able to spend two hours away from the hospital, listening to her son and playing with him, at least at first. As the weeks progressed, it became apparent that Gibbs had acted in just the right moment, keeping both mother and son from losing it. Connor had needed the time with his mother desperately, and Ziva had been in dire need of a distraction. Ella's condition had improved immensely and she had stopped needing the extra oxygen. Feeding was still somewhat of a problem, since the hospital had been using a nasal tube in the beginning (seeing as Ella's swallowing reflex was underdeveloped), and then, to make things easier, she had been bottle fed. They were trying to get her to nurse, but as the doctor informed them, it required a different technique and some babies never got the hang of it after being used to getting the bottle from the beginning. Nursing took Ella significantly longer, and as much as she wanted to nurse, Ziva avoided it when the baby was really upset so as not to upset her further. On a positive note, it had given Tim a lot of opportunities to bond with his daughter already, not being limited to diaper changes and bathing time.

Ella's eyes started drooping slowly and she stopped drinking, so Tim tried to take the bottle from her, upon which she started sucking again. He frowned slightly, and Ziva chuckled.

"I admire your patience most of the time, but unless you want to be here for another thirty minutes, you might as well just take it. And I think someone is growing restless." his wife told him, nodding subtly in Connor's direction, who was attempting to shift his legs. Tim carefully dislodged the bottle from Ella's mouth and then picked the baby up, grabbing a burp cloth. He had barely managed to place it on his shoulder that Ella burped and spit up part of her meal, scrunching up her tiny nose in discomfort.

"Yeah, bet that didn't taste too good the second time around." Tim chuckled, gently rubbing the baby's back and kissing her temple. Ella made a gurgling sound and then yawned, resting her head against her father's shoulder and gripping his shirt tightly. "Naptime." Tim decided, waiting until Connor had blown Ella a kiss and then went upstairs into the nursery to put Ella in her basinet. When he came back downstairs, Connor was cuddling with his mother, his thumb in his mouth, his eyes drooping. Tim raised an eyebrow, but his wife shook her head, kissing Connor's curls gently and rocking him.

"Too much excitement, huh?" Tim whispered, sitting down next to them. Ziva just smiled at him before looking down at Connor, who had fallen asleep himself. She gave a low chuckle and shifted him slightly.

"That went well." she softly said, rubbing a hand down Connor's back as the boy sighed deeply. "I think he likes her."

"Yeah, wait until she gets colics at 2 am or has her diaper full and he smells it." Tim rolled his eyes.

"I did have a younger sister once, Tim." Ziva reminded him, not for the first time.

"Sorry. I'm just saying-"

"That he won't always like her, I know." Ziva interupted her husband, looking down at her son's face and kissing his forehead. "I can't believe she's finally home." she softly said, closing her eyes and resting her head against Connor's. Tim nodded, leaning back and closing his eyes, too.

"Seems weird. We waited so long and now she's not just here, but _here_ here." he mused, yawning. Ziva opened one eye to look at him.

"Sorry you got the 2am and 5am feeding. You could have woken me, even if I didn't hear her over the monitor." she apologized, but Tim shook his head.

"It's okay, I told you that. I like being able to feed her, and you needed the sleep. You've been wound too tightly the last few days."

Ziva sighed and let herself fall back against him, hoisting Connor up so he was resting comfortably and she was closer to her husband. "Did I ever thank you? For being such a wonderful husband and father, for giving me these two miracles? For being in my life?" she asked him. Tim opened his eyes and smiled at her, leaning in for a kiss.

"I love you, too." he muttered before resting back again and pulling her with him.

_fin._


End file.
